First BREEAM Outstanding for high-rise office building in China – Report from Jaya Skandamoorthy

Another milestone for China – the first BREEAM Outstanding design certificate for a high-rise office building in China.

No. 1 Shanghai, a 180m tall, 34 storey commercial tower created by state developer the Shanghai International Shipping Service Centre (SISSC) has achieved an Outstanding design rating under BREEAM, the world’s foremost sustainability standard for buildings.

The building will act as the flagship for SISSC in the £4bn marina development located on the bank of the Huangpu River, which is comprised of offices, retail, and other amenities. The building is a steel-concrete structure and provides over 64000 m2 floor space and uses water from the Huangpu River for its water source heat pump and ice storage cooling systems.

The building design minimises the need for energy and takes advantage of the onsite renewable energy centre that is the primary energy source for the whole marina development. Water efficient fittings and fixtures have been used throughout the building design to minimise the water consumption, and flood-mitigation systems have been designed into the development, which lies within 150 meters of the river, which is prone to overflowing onto the banks.

The project scores highly for enhancing the ecological value of its site. The previously contaminated docklands are now home to publicly accessible green space featuring a range of indigenous tree and plant species, which enhance the natural environment of the development.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss, who is on a trade mission to China this week, said:“I want to see more collaboration like this between China and the UK – across our two nations we have a wealth of expertise and knowledge that when shared can produce fantastic results, generating jobs and investment in our economies.”

Managing Director of SISSC Mr He Binwu said, “We are transforming the old contaminated docklands on the North Bund in Shanghai into a vibrant commercial hub for international business. This building is another demonstration of our commitment to and investment in sustainable development. Our collaboration with BRE and other leading UK companies have helped us to achieve the highest rating under the international BREEAM standard. We plan to complete the building construction this year and it will become the new headquarters for SISSC.’

No 1. Shanghai is the first high-rise building in China* to achieve an outstanding design rating under BREEAM. It also achieves level three of China’s 3 Star Green Building standard, and provides another example of how BREEAM can be adapted to allow the building design to meet both local and international standards and benchmarks.

Currently, there are over 20 building projects across China going through the BREEAM certification process, and these will inform the collaborative research programme between BRE and Tsinghua University, and the mapping study between China’s 3 Star Green Building Standard (currently used on 3% of developments in the country) and BREEAM. The study will help China benchmark their future developments against global equivalents as sustainability standards become mandatory in provinces across the country.

Director of BRE China Jaya Skandamoorthy said ‘The latest BREEAM standard is now gaining increasing traction in China following a number of government supported collaborative initiatives on sustainable development between China and the UK. This is now providing us with the local data and benchmarks to carry out the research to further adapt the BREEAM standard to meet China’s local climate conditions, regulations and standards, and support the Chinese government to grow the green building market in China.’

These collaborations follow Premier Li-Keqiang visit to BRE in 2011 (as then the Vice Premier) at which he requested that BRE support China’s new low-carbon city developments currently being planned and constructed, and BRE’s recent successes with BREEAM in China on a number strategic projects and the uptake in BREEAM training in China which is being delivered in Shanghai.

BREEAM is the internationally recognised measure of sustainability for buildings and communities. Over 425,000 certificates have been issued under BREEAM on more than 24,000 projects around the world and 1.9 million buildings and communities are registered for certification. BREEAM helps to drive the sustainable performance and value of a property asset and developments as a whole, and the scheme is developed across Europe through a family of National Scheme Operators including BREEAM UK, NL, DE, ES, SE and NOR. Internationally BREEAM is used in more than 60 countries.